


The Campaign

by kethni



Category: Veep (TV)
Genre: F/M, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Making Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-20
Updated: 2019-04-20
Packaged: 2020-01-22 22:39:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18536911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kethni/pseuds/kethni
Summary: There are times when even rival campaigns have to share the same space.





	The Campaign

The only good thing about campaigns, presidential campaigns, at least, were that they only happened every four years. Kent had no problem particularly with the pressure or the long hours. However, he hated being away from home. Away from his own bed, his own things, and his cats. It didn’t help that Selina Meyer’s reduced circumstances meant that, while they were staying at the best hotel in New Hampshire, they were in far from the best rooms. When he had worked in the West Wing junior staffers would’ve been dumped in these rooms, not senior consultants.

Kent tried to spread out on the small bed. It was easier said than done. He should’ve stayed in D. C. and let Ben take point. But no. That wouldn’t do. Someone had to keep Dan check in D. C. and Selina in check here, sure, but Ben’s son Joe was about to become a father. Ben had to be in D. C. for that, if only to stop Joyce from exploding. There was a crash from the next room and half a scream.

The lights flicked off. Kent looked around the room. The light on the coffee machine had gone dark. He picked up his robe and pulled it on as he approached the connecting door. He’d never understood the logic of them. He tapped on it tentatively.

‘Sue?’

There was a pause before she answered. ‘Do you have lights?’

‘No. However I have a flashlight if you need to –’

There was a light “pop” as the lights came back on.

‘Do you have lights?’ Sue asked.

 ‘Yes, for now,’ he said.

It felt as if a moment had passed. On opportunity had slipped away.

He had seen her in the hotel lobby. He was checking in as she was arguing with a member of staff about something.

The pool, presumably, as she was in a neon pink bikini with matching swimming cap and flip-flops.

Neon pink. He was amazed that she would ever countenance it near her. Although it certainly “popped.”

She had noticed him looking, so he had quickly looked away. Things were awkward enough since she Betrayed Selina Forever, without her catching him staring at her bikini-clad body.

He’d seen her again when he was going for a walk. As he got on the elevator, she’d got off. This time she saw him first. She was staring straight at him, as if trying to memorise his face for the sketch artist later.

She was wearing jeans and a yellow top. She always looked so young when she was dressed casually. He watched her stalk down the corridor. Perhaps it wasn’t surprising that their rooms were on the same corridor. There were only so many floors and having everyone on a couple of floors had to be more practical for the Secret Service. Nonetheless, it made him a little... disquieted.

She was coming out of her room when he returned. He stopped suddenly, baffled by her proximity.

‘Oh,’ he said.

Sue shut her door. ‘Oh.’

‘This is my room,’ he said, gesturing at the door next to hers.

She glanced at his door, as if expecting to see some sign of his occupation

‘This is mine,’ she said, stepping away from it.

‘I see,’ he said.

Sue pushed back her hair. ‘Well then.’

‘Indeed.’

She walked away as he opened the door to his room. Her room was on the left. That meant it was the room to which the connecting door led. He wondered if she had realised.

***

Sue looked at the ceiling. The bed, and the room that housed it, was too small. That was a true sign of disfavour from President Montez. Donkey-brained, indolent, useless piece of necrotised intestine. Sue would never say anything of that sort out loud. It still felt good to think it. it felt satisfying to acknowledge the way she felt about the two-faced, hypocritical, lying bag of snake shit.

All right. That wasn’t as successful. She was still working on it. Sue got up and made herself a cup of coffee. She didn’t initially hear the sound from the connecting bedroom, because the coffee machine sounded like a helicopter trying to take off. As the frantic mechanical whirring died away, she heard the sound from the room next door. It was faint, from her position by the coffee machine. So, she picked up her cup of coffee and padded across to the connecting door.

Grunting. Regular. Repetitive. Guttural.

She couldn’t hear his breathing, but she knew exactly how it would sound. They hadn’t dated very long, and it was several years ago now. Nevertheless, she remembered the sound of his breath when he came.

She put her cup of coffee on the desk. She leaned back against the door and closed her eyes. She heard his rhythms. She slid her hand into her pyjama trousers. A lack of attraction, a dearth of pure animal desire, had never been the problem. Not with Kent. He had taken her for coffee and stammered through pleasantries and niceties. She had taken him back to her apartment and ridden him like a bronco.

***

Sue wasn’t terribly interested in debates. They were too unpredictable. Too unstructured. She supposed that was the point: the hope that there would be another sweating Nixon moment. Or a twitchy-eye Selina moment. Candi had asked her about that. If there as anything they could do to induce Twitchy to make an appearance. As if Montez didn’t have enough of her own twitches and tells to worry about.

They _hadn’t_ asked her about Kent. Not, she was sure, out of discretion or sensitivity, but purely out of ignorance. She’d heard him mentioned. His political stock had risen of late. Mike’s diary had somehow helped as had Jonah’s ludicrous decision to shut down the government. More particularly that he had fired Ben and Kent very shortly before he was deposed by his own idiot caucus. _With_ Ben and Kent, he had been a hair’s breadth away from achieving real political change. Without them, he had lost everything. Admittedly the political change he nearly achieved was terrible, but that was not the point. That Jonah was an utter idiot who had accidentally stumbled into holding the entire political system hostage wasn’t something anyone wished to acknowledge. Similarly, the Tanz’s influence on the system had to be airbrushed. Nonetheless Jonah _was_ an utter idiot and that couldn’t be ignored. Therefore, the received wisdom was, had to be, that Ben and Kent had puppeted Jonah into shutting down the government and that when they left, they cut Jonah’s strings.

It was complete nonsense. A pleasing fiction. She knew Kent and Ben too well to believe that they would ever support an idea so risky, let alone suggest it. Nonetheless, she found that she enjoyed Kent being afforded the respect that he deserved. It retrospectively justified her regard.

She saw Kent across the ballroom. He had upgraded his wardrobe: new suit, new shirt, new shoes. Same old tie. Honestly. He’d had that when they were dating. New grooming too: shorter hair and a Van Dyke beard. It suited him.

She blew off the debate post-mortem. Blah, blah, blah. Montez was too stiff. She lost momentum. The entire discussion was far too dull. Instead Sue went to the bar. It was full of reporters but that was okay. She had a low enough profile that she was rarely pestered. Why would people know who she was? Just because she had kept together the Meyer presidency together largely despite the best efforts of President Meyer _and_ she kept the Montez administration together with little or no thanks didn’t mean she deserved any popular acclaim. Obviously. That was FINE. Just FINE.

She saw Amy breeze through the bar with some intern or assistant in tow. Sue winced. Amy had taken it very personally when Sue had begun working for Montez. It was a shame. Amy didn’t have enough friends to go falling out over petty differences.

Sue had a glass of wine and decided to work off some of her stress. Hotel gyms were rarely busy at the peak of day, let alone early evening. A few sets and a good session on the treadmill would calm her down.

***

Kent wasn’t keeping up. He was used to not keeping up with Ben. He _could_ keep up with Ben, but it was a bad idea. Failing to keep up with Amy and Dan was new. Kent had drunk his fill by eleven, and made his way, somewhat unsteadily, back to the hotel. He’d seen Sue earlier in the evening. He’d been prepping Selina and across the room, amid the sea of staffers, he’d seen Sue staring in disgust at a tray of dry and curling sandwiches. Her hair had been scraped back into a perfect, viciously tight bun. It looked incredibly uncomfortable but of course she didn’t show it. Sue might tell you that straightening her hair was enormously painful or that her heels were crushing her toes, but she would never, ever, show it. He had found her cool demeanour very attractive but what was intriguing from afar felt like repeated rejection when they were dating. He had not comported himself as he would have liked. There had been other women, both before and after. Some of them very intelligent, kind, or affectionate. He had been fond of a number of them. None of them had left him as confused, angry, and hurt as Sue had.

***

Sue was in the bath enjoying a small cup of herbal tea when there was a crash from the adjourning room. She scrambled out of the bath, pulling on her robe, pushing wet hair out of her face. She nearly slipped on the wet floor but righted herself as she trotted into the hotel room.

‘Kent?’ she called, tapping on the door.

His shirt was unchecked, his sleeves were rolled up, and his tie was hanging loose. He lolled against the doorjamb. ‘Hey,’ he said.

‘Hey?’ Sue repeated. ‘Are you drunk?’

He shrugged. ‘Merely in high spirits.’

Her lips twitched as she tried not to smile. ‘You _are_ drunk.’

‘Well, only a little.’

‘I was concerned,’ she said. ‘About the noise.’ 

He tilted his head as he looked at her. Looked her right in the eyes for much longer than was comfortable.

‘Were you worried about me, Susan?’

She opened her mouth to tell him not to use her full name. But she didn’t. ‘Selina didn’t do nearly well enough for you to be getting drunk.’

‘Or nearly badly enough,’ he said, with a twinkle in his eyes.

She licked her lips. ‘I’ll make you a coffee.’

‘Do I have to stand in the doorway to drink it?’

She rolled her eyes. ‘Come in. Although I don’t know why since there’s no difference between our rooms.’

‘A harsh truth,’ he said, following her. He left the door open.

Sue glanced at him as she made coffee. ‘I work for the president. _You_ are merely a consultant for a penniless wannabe.’

He sat on the bed and leaned back against the headboard. ‘Be fair. Penniless has-been.’

Now she smiled. ‘We must be accurate.’

‘Indeed, we must.’ He licked his lips. ‘You look so well.’

Sue sat down beside him. It should have felt awkward and uncomfortable, but it didn’t.

‘I’m wearing no makeup, in my pyjamas, and I’ve taken out my weave,’ she said.

‘And you look so well,’ he said.

Sue looked away brushed her hair behind her ear. ‘The beard looks better.’

‘Thank you. A rare compliment.’

Sue slapped his arm. ‘Be nice.’

‘I said thank you,’ Kent protested. He sipped his coffee. ‘You’re hardly a woman given to easy flattery.’

She gave him a grudging nod.

His phone chimed loudly. He pulled a face.

‘Should you answer that?’ she suggested.

Kent shrugged. ‘It’ll be Joyce again. She’s texted me forty-three times and Whatsapped me sixty-one photographs. Also, three videos.’

Sue gave him a look. ‘Joyce Cafferty? Why is she sexting you?’

He started laughing. It was something she hadn’t seen before. He had a boyish laugh, almost a giggle.

‘She’s not!’

‘Let me see,’ Sue demanded.

He unlocked his cell and meekly handed it over.

‘You’ve very trusting,’ she scolded. ‘I’m on your opponent’s team.’

‘Sure, but that’s my personal phone,’ he said. ‘There’s nothing work related.’

Sue pursed her lips as she looked at his messages. ‘Why is Joyce Cafferty sending you pictures of a monkey being tortured?

Kent gave her a look. ‘A monkey being tortured?’

‘Screaming naked mole rat seemed harsh,’ she explained.

He sniggered. ‘Lucky you didn’t say that.’

She pinched his arm. ‘Babies are ugly. New born babies even more so.’

Kent tilted his head back. ‘That is Pippin Arthur Cafferty I’ll have you know. Ben’s first grandchild.’

Sue stared at him. ‘Pippin Arthur?’

‘Allegedly.’ Kent bumped her shoulder. ‘Beats being called the same as all the other kids. Like… Sue.’

She bumped him back. ‘No, it doesn’t. It’s idiotic. Also, Sue is an excellent name. It’s far better than Kent.’

‘Well, for a girl, certainly,’ he agreed.

She looked at him. He kept glancing at her mouth.

‘Stop it,’ she said.

‘What?’ he asked with exaggerated innocence.

Sue leaned in closer. ‘You’re thinking about kissing me.’

He looked at her with dark, hooded eyes. ‘You don’t like it?’

‘I do like it. That’s why you should stop _thinking_ about it.’

She saw him catch the inflection on “thinking.” She thought he might hesitate or ask for permission. But he’d been drinking, and that always eased his anxiety.

He kissed her warmly and just a little roughly. She leaned into the kiss, putting her hand on his thigh. She could taste coffee and whiskey on his tongue. His breathing was quick but hers was quicker. She felt her heart beating as he touched his palm to her cheek.

Sue pulled back. Kent was looking at her in a mix of hope and uncertainty.

She licked her lips. ‘It’s late.’

She heard him groan very softly.

‘Of course,’ he said, standing up. ‘It was nice to see you.’

‘Yes.’ She stood and folded her arms.

Kent scanned her face. ‘Should I apologise?’

‘No.’ She took a step back. ‘But you should go.’

Sue watched him walk back to the connecting door. Not angry, except perhaps at himself a little. He was disappointed. The last time they had parted, the last time she told him to go, he had been angry. Anger was easier to deal with. She could fight against anger. Disappointment was subtler and crueller. His disappointment curdled into her guilt. She _hated_ her guilt.

***

Kent shut the connecting door and leaned back against it. He closed his eyes. She was married. It had been years. He was drunk. She was married. What had his thought was going to happen?

She knocked on the door. Kent turned around and opened the door.

Sue was clasping her hands together. She looked more nervous than he had ever seen.

‘You can come back,’ she said. ‘If you want.’

The End.    


End file.
